This post is sponsored by Toyota USA

If you’ve been following us for awhile, you should know by now what we are all about.  It can be described in 2 works, fitness and travel.  It’s been 2 years since we started this whole blog life, and we never imagined we would grow to the size that we have.  We honestly started this to document our travels, and maybe share some fitness tips.  We imagined some people might stumble upon our site, but never imagined we would be knocking on the door of 100,000 annual page views!

We just received one of our biggest opportunities this past July when we partnered with Toyota USA to combine two of our favorite things, fitness and travel.  They reached out to us with an opportunity of a lifetime.  They asked if we wanted to work out with two Olympic Athletes.  Without hesitation, we jumped with joy and cleared our schedule.  It was obviously a no brainer in our eyes, I mean, who wouldn’t want to meet and get their butt kicked by Olympic athletes?!

The Olympic athletes were professional snowboarders Elena Hight and Louie Vito.  Now we aren’t big into snowboarding or skiing, which is a shame because we live less than 100 miles from Mt. Hood, one of the best mountains for skiing and snowboarding.  Not surprising that lots of professionals come to train year round on the mountain.  Elena and Louie are practicing at Mt. Hood frequently, especially in the summer as it is one of the only half pipes around that they can practice on during the summer.

Louie Vito

Elena Hight

We were told that they would be doing their weekly recovery workout near Mt. Hood, and wanted a couple of fitness bloggers to join them.  Not only were we excited to workout and interview two professional athletes, Toyota USA sweetened the pot and threw in a 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid for us to drive around in. Just for a few days though, wouldn’t that have been sweet if they gave us one?!  It was still amazing, they dropped it off with a full tank of gas and picked it up a few days later.  We took advantage of that free tank of gas and took the highlander on a trip to the Oregon Coast– what a smooth drive that was!

Driving around in a brand new car always feels good, especially when it still has that new car smell.  Neither of us have ever driven a Hybrid, so it was a big surprise to us whenever we started the car because it was so quiet.  The Highlander was such a smooth ride and we loved using all the bells and whistles.  We could see ourselves wanting to invest in a car like this for roadtripping as it was so comfortable to drive, and the cruise control options were so cool!  That was our favorite part of the car was being able to set the cruise control and putting it on the follow mode.  The follow mode allowed you to set a certain distance away from the car infront of you, and it would automatically accelerate or decelerate when the car’s speed in front of you changes.  This made for really easy driving once on the highway. Other awesome amenities of the 2017 Highlander include three-zone air control, lane departure alert with steering assist, rear seat entertainment, and blind spot technology. This car has so many cool gadgets, we didn’t even have time to explore all of them!

After a short 60 minute drive to Mt. Hood, we met up with Elena and Louie at an open soccer field, along with another local Portland blogger, Jamie King Fitness. We were extremely nervous to be meeting and working out with Olympic professional athletes, but shortly after meeting them, our nerves suppressed.  They are genuine people, with laid back personalities.  They made this experince informal and fun.  Shortly after exchanging pleasantries and introductions we got right into the workout.  Elena and Louie had spent all day on the mountain training, and it was a Sunday, so it was time for their recovery workout.

The first part of the workout started with a 15 minute misdirection run.  This run is meant to go at a slow and steady pace, with multiple directional movements.  The focus of this run is to lose up the muscles and get the lactic acid flowing in order to help speed the muscle recovery process.  Louie took us on a 15 minute loop. After the run, we gathered together with our yoga mats to start an intense 10 minute core routine.  It may not have been intense for two professional athletes, but for the average civilian, not so easy…

Louie lead us through the first portion of the workout, and then it was Elena’s turn to take the reigns.  She took us through a 20 minute yoga and stretching routine.  The session consisted of everything from downward facing dogs, to child posing, to warrior poses (Clearly I know a lot of yogi terminology)   Some people were more flexible than other, we won’t mention any names (Louie Vito).  We documented our entire experience with a video, click here to see it in its entirety. As I said in the beginning of this post, we are so blessed to have had this opportunity.  We got to workout and get to know two Professional Olympic athletes, and get an insight into their lives as far as workout regimens, nutritional tips, and favorite Olympic game experiences.

Don’t forget to head to our youtube channel to watch our full experience with the Olympians and our sweet ride!

Special thanks to Toyota USA, Louie Vito, and Elena Hight for making this all possible!